Emergency fixes and band aids.

[Exodus_2pt0]

So us and a few friends are vacationing in a house down at OBX, NC. I was going to bring my S4, but its now in the body shop. Anyway, about half way there I get a phone call from a friend with a C6 Vette. Loud ticking noise.

I was only 5 minutes ahead so I looped back and by the time I get there he already had the valve cover pulled. Broken spring. We brainstormed the safest way to keep him on the road without towing the car.

End result:


Made it the next 100 miles, overnighted some new springs and he's back in action! Yes, injector was unplugged as well.

Please share your own roadside bandaids. All this made me glad I didn't have the S4 though, or his car would have fine and I would have blown a damn turbo.

[Hawk]

Haha thats awesome! Nice work. Glad it made it home safe.

[rcsoundn1]

wow. Good way just to get there. Shocked it made it 100 miles. Order a valve cover gasket to hahahah

[LJ851]

Shocked it made it 100 miles.

What would have failed? The parts aren't moving any more.


Pushrod engines 1, overhead cam engines 0. Nice fix exodus.

[2mAn]

Drove to visit my parents a while ago and was enjoying myself on the grapevine when suddenly I heard a dragging sound and immediately pulled over. This is what I found:



One busted exhaust hanger and a dragging exhaust system. No idea where/ when the other hanger was, but I had to fix the problem. Luckily I had an event I needed to look nice so I had some clothes on coat hangers. Stole the coat hangers and made it work.



Drove about 300 miles this way with no issues. I didnt want to drive back the same way so on saturday I began a search for some rubber exhaust hangers. Finally got a pair from an exhaust shop and installed those. Kept my coat hangers in the trunk, just in case. And what do you know, less than half way home on Sunday and the same dragging sound. BOTH of the new hangers were busted. Reinstalled the coat hangers and drove the rest of the way with no issues. I didnt want to drive this way so yesterday I found some OEM hangers at a dealership and got the pair installed last night. They were a major pain in the ass to install, but I think that means they will hold up a little better. We'll see. I have a few other things Im working on but I will update this thread when that happens, as for now, a few more pics.

new VS old

[AndrewBird]

After washing the engine bay off my MG, the distributor cap got a bit of water in it, so I took it off to wipe out. The carbon contact in the middle of the cap fell out on the ground somewhere and I lost it. Ended up cutting a short length of throttle cable sheathing and used it to get home.

I've used wire as an exhaust hanger for months on my MKII Jetta. The stock mounts tear super easy.

My dad once had the fuel pump die on his old Ford van. He used a paper cup to poor gasoline straight into the carb while driving in order to get home.

[IceWhite]

Reverse gear.

Not me but a cousin of mine. He was on his way to work and had to pick up a friend of his in a new to him 10 year old Alfa. The friend wanted to drive the car and somehow stuffed up the gearbox and only reverse gear worked. My cousin had to go back home 'Literally' using said reverse gear to use another of their cars to get to work.

[e30 gangsta]

Shoelaces as my waterpump / alternator belt on the m20. Got me home about 30 miles while doing 55mph on the highway. Changed it out with the trunk tool kit. :)

[Cephas]

Years back I used a shoe lace as throttle cable out the hood and into the window of the car. Glad I had a 5 speed since the lace kept getting caught with the throttle open a little.

The throttle body gasket started pissing on the track car, so we spliced it with a hose splice from home depot. Not really that crazy but seeing as how we were on our way to the track that morning when it blew, it felt like a big victory.

[Hooffenstein HD]

Early style Getrag 260 shifter. Bolts backed out and the shifter plate fell off. Got the girlfriend to hold it while I shifted, she cut her hand a tiny bit on the hole in the trans tunnel and I'll never hear the end of that one.

Most ghetto thing I've done is used an old license plate to cover a huge hole in the centre resonator. Secured with tek screws and a coat hanger. I would have been stopped by police and defected in minutes if I left it as loud as it was.

[HennaE30]

Early style Getrag 260 shifter. Bolts backed out and the shifter plate fell off. Got the girlfriend to hold it while I shifted, she cut her hand a tiny bit on the hole in the trans tunnel and I'll never hear the end of that one.



Most ghetto thing I've done is used an old license plate to cover a huge hole in the centre resonator. Secured with tek screws and a coat hanger. I would have been stopped by police and defected in minutes if I left it as loud as it was.

I had the rear mount of my plate shifter fall out. It felt like a soup sandwich.

Had the wipers on a 91 Mustang die in a snowstorm. Had to wipe by hand while driving. *stick arm out window, wipe wipe wipe, bring back in so your hand could thaw*

[cabriodster87]

One time while out cruising the backroads, i hit some random leaf spring that severed the transmission cooler line.

So i bent the line shut, and used beer to raise the fluid level and limp back home.

[straight6pwr]

-30 deg day, e30 wouldn't start. no one around for a jump, so I threw a space heater in the trunk and ran a 100' extension cord from the street to my house. battery warmed up and she started fine!

[mitchlikesbikes]

one time i was in my jeep and ran over a big branch, halfway down the mountain afterward it died. i looked under and the branch had wedged itself between the axle and the fuel line and tugged at the fuel line over every bump til it tore off right at the filter. i used my handy dandy leatherman and reattached the fuel line so i could go home. never had to touch it again for a year or two til i sold the jeep

[DrJosh]

Years back I used a shoe lace as throttle cable out the hood and into the window of the car. Glad I had a 5 speed since the lace kept getting caught with the throttle open a little.

Been there done that. Luckily I was only about a mile from home. Hill starts were fun!